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Copy.ai vs Smodin: two AI writers that will both draft your essay
If you're a student, go carefully with both. Smodin is built to write the essay: its plans let you “write full essays with simple prompts”, and they sell humanization to “bypass Turnitin-level detection”. Copy.ai is a marketing platform, yet its free Paragraph Generator also pitches “writing long-form essays”.
Of the two, Smodin is the one aimed at essays, with a writer, an AI detector, a plagiarism checker and a translator in one subscription that costs less than Copy.ai's Chat plan on both monthly and annual billing. Weigh that against what else it sells.
Prices and features checked on October 17, 2026.
At a glance
Writing assistants help you write; essay generators write the essay for you.
| Product | Type | Paid from | Free tier | Citations | Ghostwriting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copy.ai | Essay generator | $29/month | Yes | Not verified | Drafts text when asked |
| Smodin | Essay generator | $12.99/month | Yes | Not verified | Writes the essay |
How much of the essay each one writes
Smodin's AI Writer drafts essays, articles and research papers from a topic, with a choice of style, tone and length, and expands the next section when you ask. Its writer FAQ adds one line of caution: “Always follow your institution's academic integrity policies when using AI writing tools.”
Copy.ai writes whatever you ask in chat or its generators and takes no position on student work. Its Paragraph Generator suggests using it to “draft literature reviews or discussion sections”. So both will produce essay text. Smodin's writer drafts the whole thing; on Copy.ai's side, essays come up on one free tool's page.
Getting past the detectors
Smodin sells AI-detector evasion openly. Its plans promise to “detect and bypass top AI detectors” and offer “Highest humanization possible to bypass Turnitin-level detection”, and its humanizer page calls the result “undetectable”. Submitting that text as your own is an academic-integrity risk, whatever a detector says about it.
Copy.ai's pitch is quieter but points the same way: its free AI Humanizer aims to make AI text “indistinguishable from human-written text”. Neither tool changes who wrote the essay.
Sources you'll have to check by hand
Smodin says its writer can “Find high-quality sources” and cite them in APA or MLA in one click, but it doesn't say where those sources come from. It also claims the writer makes facts, data and statistics “100% accurate” without explaining how. A Reddit user reports that its references “need a second look”, and other users say generated facts need checking by hand.
Copy.ai doesn't describe academic sources at all. Its Workflow credits can pay for “internet research”, and Copy.ai is silent on how, or whether, that gets cited.
Checking a draft
Smodin's subscription bundles an AI content detector, a plagiarism checker, a rewriter, a summarizer and a translator alongside the writer, and it says the detector, humanizer, plagiarism checker and writer can be tried with “No sign-up required to try.” Positive Trustpilot reviews mostly praise its quick summaries and help tidying up wording, not the essay writer. On Copy.ai's side, the free tools list has a grammar checker and a paraphrasing tool. Neither describes feedback on your argument or evidence.
What you'll pay, and the billing complaints
Smodin Starter is $12.99 a month billed monthly or $10 billed annually, with limited writing output. Premium is $19.99 or $16, with unlimited output, premium AI models, advanced humanization and the Chrome extension. Its tools can be tried without signing up, but the pricing page lists only the two paid plans and doesn't publish free limits.
Copy.ai's Chat plan is $29 billed monthly or $24 a month billed annually, so both Smodin plans cost less on either basis. Chat does cover five seats. Copy.ai's pricing page lists no free plan, though its free tools advertise 2,000 free words a month on sign-up, with limits that are unverified.
Billing is the sore point for both. Smodin users describe being charged for a full year when they expected monthly billing, renewals they couldn't get refunded, and access ending the moment they cancelled. Copy.ai's Trustpilot reviewers describe charges continuing after they cancelled.
Which should you choose?
Choose Copy.ai if you need marketing or sales copy and a chat workspace with OpenAI, Anthropic and Gemini models for five seats. Leave its Paragraph Generator out of your essays.
Choose Smodin only if you want its plagiarism checker, summarizer or translator for your own text and can ignore the writer and humanizer. Starter is $12.99 billed monthly or $10 a month on annual billing, and any source or fact it hands you needs verifying.
Want an AI you could explain to your instructor? EthiWrite is our attempt at one. It cites only from your Library, and Examiner Mode flags unsupported claims with no ability to rewrite your text. It won't write paragraphs from a prompt, so it's no substitute for Smodin's AI Writer if a finished draft is what you're after.
FAQ
- Can Smodin get my essay past Turnitin?
- Its plans claim humanization that will “bypass Turnitin-level detection”. Whether or not that holds, submitting AI-written text as your own is an academic-integrity risk, and Smodin's own writer FAQ tells you to follow your institution's policies.
- Is Smodin's 4.8 rating real?
- Its site shows a 4.8/5 rating citing Trustpilot, but Trustpilot says Smodin's rating “is unavailable due to a breach of our guidelines” and that it has “removed a number of fake reviews for this company.”
- Do Copy.ai or Smodin have a free plan?
- Neither pricing page lists one. Smodin's tools can be tried without signing up, with no published limits. Copy.ai labels its tools free and advertises 2,000 free words a month when you sign up, but the free account's limits are unverified.
- Can I use Smodin's plagiarism checker without the writer?
- Yes. It's one of the tools the subscription bundles, and Smodin says it can be tried without signing up. Running your own draft through it is a reasonable use of the product.